Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Sunday Newspapers have enough to keep a news addict occupied for the whole day but i am not that. i am that sort who flips from page to page lingering mostly on my own interests and in a way that suffices. But this Sunday i did not get that luxury of having to do that. Yeah it is a luxury to have time enough to sit with all 3-4 Newspapers and skim and mark out the articles that you would want to dwell in slightly longer than you would to others.i sure do have that luxury mostly.
Needless to say then i could not call my friend whose article was published on the 2nd page of Times of India and tell her how i felt. It matters to her definitely that a nonentity like me should tell her how i feel or else two days later she wouldn't have SMSed me asking me to look into page 2 of the 25th April TOI.That she did not want to hear accolades i'm sure of cause any such on my part would've only sounded cliched as this was not her first article.And by now she knows for sure that she also has a flair for words coated in humour, a deadly combination that can only leave you gaping in awe.So her article is titled 'NotInMyNature' and because i loved the way she's put across her true feelings this again is for the keeps. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH/2010/04/25&PageLabel=2&EntityId=Ar00201&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

Now my instant reaction to her SMS late in the evening two days later saw me running into the store room silently hoping that Vasanti Amma has not used the paper already to line the under the hob shelves which she religiously does every Tuesday morning since she has no cooking to do as that is the day the two of us observe a day long fast.She is too lazy to pick those lying low in the stack and no amount of admonishment on that irritating habit of hers can stop her from reaching out to the fresh lot.Sometimes if it is of importance i have another place to stack papers which she is restricted access to and in this case i had no such dreams that my friend is about to do a hattrick for the month.

My search led to a small tiff between my husband and me who got pissed out on my enquiry just when he had snuggled in the AC bedroom to watch Indian Idol kick off. Maybe he was missing the IPL wee bit more to have made him cranky about the Sunday times .And God alone knows why i was being so rude in my questioning. Just because i was busy all Sunday and he was the one who lazed around with the bunch practically the entire day, Does that make him responsible for the hard to retrieve newspaper?

As was expected my friend's article was smothered with stainless steel utensils and she should've guessed it i hope why i was not able to give a prompt reply.i presume she can guess this phenomenon which is as common as crow in most households when you want something to be in it's place it will be a miracle if you find it just there. And sore with two people at the same time one being Vasanti Amma who was happily watching her Tamil sitcom in her room and my husband who was chuckling away to God's glory at all the phony idiocy of Indian Idol, i was left sweltering to do two jobs at the same time.First to clear the mess in the store room, a failed attempt of my rummaging and secondly to take off the shrivelled paper from the underthehob shelves.An onerous task when the place is hot and humid and you are both sore to the extent of swearing and impatient to get a dekho(look at).

So once again as a slave to my habit i take a shortcut which was the worst shortcut anyone at this age can take As i sit to narrate i don't know what to do.Whether to laugh off at my stupidity or to spank myself for being so dumb.This is what i did- i just removed the vessels from that part which had her shrivelled up article and read it hurriedly. No the words were clear enough only the paper looked like how your finger would look if it had been dipped in water for too long.Then like a good polite dost ( friend) i sent her an SMS little realising that she might've hit the sack it being the start of the week and she would have to get that beauty sleep and would not answer back with a polite thank you.Then i arranged the vessels as it was before and finally retreated to the comfort of my air-conditioned bedroom feeling a bit stale though by now.

Bored with the phony idiocy my husband was now happily surfing the channels as usual and was not bothered in fact i believe he had not even realised my absence for so long.i had by now gained equilibrium at least for the time being so sat there cooling myself before i could hear more about Lalit Modi's supposed ouster from his position and the startling discoveries of the ensuing scam narrated by the newcomer Mr Manohar.

Sufficiently cooled and later sinking into a comfortable position in my bed i reached out for my book and it was then i got sore with myself.This realisation that instead of the selfperpetuated torture why didn't i look into the article on the net now was making me forget the comfort of all that i was having now.
The comfort of having found and read what i wanted too so badly even if it was on it's way of getting extinct.
The comfort of the room so nice and cozy and somebody there to give me company and maybe talk to about that article if i approached him to it.
The comfort of the constant supply of electricity and what comes along with it the net included if you don't want to run it on battery.
i lost my equilibrium again temporarily with self realisation of my own dumbness than anything else and nothing could've brought it back to stability but an honest apology to my husband whose leisure after a hard day's work i was trying to ruin.
He turned sideways to face me with all his warmth forgetting the TV and between smiles said,"Not at all Gulabo (an affectionate pet name he gives me when he's good) and I'm sorry too for snapping at you but hey! did you find that newspaper?"And we laughed off the soreness as i narrated my stupidity first. As if it could've made any more lighter he gave those comical looks and started singing hopelessly out of tune,"That makes the two of us DoDiwaneSheherMein"(Two crazy people in the city).The article was forgotten as we compared instances where we prove to be real morons and this time we slept well next to each other smiling and holding each other instead of turning away and sleeping in anger and agony.
Then have sweet dreams about the wonderful thing call technology which will save all things from the ignorant clutches of Vasanti Amma and also from your own late reactions...if it could...

However good technology is doing to us i feverishly agree to my father who says,"No matter how much analysis you see in the TV of the happennings around not unless you have a good dekho at the newspaper, you are a less satisfied person." Maybe he is a newspaper addict after all but i remembered that smile that wasn't mine had i read my friend's article in peace savouring each word and enjoying that humour for which her company is much prized. My smile would've been similar to this picture.
A composition rather a parody can't help delivering it now...just happened
It's late in the evening
She's wondering how she wrote her post
She picks up her mobile
and messages sweet sweet words
And then she asks me
Do i sound alright
And i said deary
you've sounded great alright!
Tana nana tana nana ta na na na na...( plucking of the guitar).Ok i had no intentions of spoiling something so perfect it was just that the words were matching to the song well enough for me to doing nothing more than to hum it along ....

Good article scripted by your friend. Liked it thoroughly… One more thing…. I agree to your dad that when it comes to the daily news, nothing like the good old newspaper.. Savoring its content and referring the same at office tea breaks etc kept our routines not so mundane. Unfortunately for me, I no longer have the luxury of time to go through Indian newspapers here in the middle east.

@Tandarin thank you i presume from my friend too whose article u liked thoroughly...hey but i guess u must be having quite sometime with the newspapers there...as for the Indian ones...internet Jindabaad!

@just saying, we have few local newspaper but none compare to the Indian ones. Indian newspapers in e-versions are available but for me the feel of holding a newspaper and reading is important. At some weekends, I do get a chance at the local Indian club or at some friends place, but that too is slowly becoming a luxury. Time is an issue though.

You write like you speak and you speak what you think , and thats why there will never be a dull moment in your life !! Look at the blessings, Vasanti Amma does change the paper on your shelves unlike Manikantan who would let them curl and yellow and turn into dust. Worth reading a soggy article.I don't know of a single man who does not like to laze all sunday morning, leaving crumbs in his wake, and a single woman who feels the need to cook, clean,rearrange and rediscover on a sunday.Glad you liked teh article.

@Tandarin finally see i have that luxury na...told you so in the beginning itself.Thanks for the re-visit.@Neenu hey it's not only me u can see for urself that anybody or everybody likes the way you put things across.Thanks for stopping by.

@Anirban thanks for stopping by and yes maybe i'm still primitive but the joy,ease and convenience of reading a newspaper even when i'm lying down is something i would not swap for all the hitech gizmos in the world which might even read the article to me i suppose.Maybe i'm tech shy...who knows...

I haven't read any printed newspaper for ages now - other than the ones I read when I'm in India or the ones here that are left in the toilet by other people ;-)But I agree that "No matter how much analysis you see in the TV of the happennings around not unless you have a good dekho at the newspaper, you are a less satisfied person." I try to read newspapers at the library after Sachin scores some big runs :-)